Machine for uniting looped fabrics



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

W. BEATTIE.

MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS.

No. 389,134. Patented Sept. 4, 1888.

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSl1eet 2.

W. BEATTIE.

MACHINE FOR UNITING 1.0012311 FABRICS.

N0. 389,134. Patented Sept. 4, 1888.

N. FEYERS. Phalolllhngm UNITED STATES PATENT QFEICE,

WILLIAM BEATTIE, OF COHOES, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-SIXTH TO J. M. NIOIIOL, OF ONEONTA, NEV YORK.

MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 389,134, dated September 4, 1888.

Application filed November ll, 1887. Serial No. 254,910.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM BEATTIE, of Cohoes, county of Albany, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Uniting Knit Fabrics, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the points upon which in machines for uniting knitted or looped fabrics two selvaged or looped edges of such fabrics are impaled to be sewed together, and further relates to the form of the point-bed in which the points are supported, and to the means for securing the points in the bed.

The object of myinvention is to so improve the form and details of construction of the points and point-bed and fasteuings that the point of the sewing-needle will not strike the bed when, for any reason, it passes between two adjacent points.

A further object is to provide a stronger and better fastening for the points than that heretofore used, by the employment of which the points may be placed and removed without injuring the parts of the point-bed, and which shall be so far below the needle that the loops of the thread with which the edges are sewed together will not be at any time compressed and held between the under side of the sewingneedle and the bed or fastening.

My invention consists of a point for turning off machines, the shank or rear part of which is formed in two portions whose axial lines are at an angle to each other, and of a point-bed having a projecting rim or support underlying the projecting parts of the points and provided with grooves cut in its upper face between the point-rests.

It further consists in certain other details of construction and arrangement hereinafter specified.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of acircular turning-offmachine of the variety described in Letters Patent No. 354,374, issued to William Beattie, December 14, 1886, with certain details omitted as unnecessary to this description and with my improvements incorporated therein. Fig. 2 is a vertical trans- (No model.)

verse section of the point-bed and other details of Fig. 3, showing the improved point in side elevation, a part of the sewing-needle, two pendent pieces of knit or looped fabrics, and the sweep in elevation, with the hanger of the sweep broken off. Fig. 3 is a plan of Fig. 2 with the pieces of fabric and the sweep omitted. Fig. 4c is a plan of the sweep with the hanger broken off, as in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section of a point, pointbed, and fastenings of the construction usual in circular turning-off machines, showing also a portion of the sewing-needle. This figure is introduced for reference to facilitate the description of my invention. Figs. 6, 7, and S are transverse vertical sections of point-beds, showing several modifications of my invention, hereinafter fully described. Fig. 9 is a face view or elevation ofa broken-out part of the point-bed, points, and projecting support or guard of the form illustrated in Fig. 6. Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a point having my improvements.

All the figures except Fig. 1 are on an en larged scale, and illustrate the application of my invention to a straight as well as to a circular turning-oft" machine, or to any machine for uniting the edges of knit or looped fabrics in which projecting or overhanging points are similarly employed.

A is the supporting frame or stand, carrying the driving-shaft B and projecting arm 0. The outer or overhanging end of arm 0 is provided with a hub, a, carrying the cylinder-shaft b, which is secured in its proper position by the setscrew c.

1) is the stationary plate or cylinder, carrying the point-bed E, which in this case is a ring bored and turned to fit into a groove in the outer face of the cylinder formed by an annular flange, d, and ring 0. In straight machines the point-bed is straight instead of ring-shaped, and is suitably guided in a straight line, having a reciprocating instead of a revolving motion, and this specification is intended to apply equally well to either, although for the sake of brevity no further reference be made therein to straight machines or to other machines than the circular.

The circular point-bed E is provided with teethfon its under side, forming a circular rack, which is driven by-a pinion, g, ona transverse shaft, h, carrying also a ratchetwheel, 1', driven by a pawl, j, on the extremity of the pawl-rod 7c, reciprocated by the action of an eccentric (not shown) on shaft 13. Each tooth of the ratchet moved by the pawl carries the point bed a sufficient distance to bring one point after the next preceding one successively underneath the needle Z. The sewing-needle Z is attached to the vibrating needlearm m by a set-screw, n, and the needlearm is propelled by the eccentric-cam 0 on axle B.

10 is the thread guide and tension device holder.

is a suitable hanger carrying the spindle oof the circular needle 8.

The spindle r is operated by a slotted rod, t, driven by a pin, a, in the needlearm.

In machines of this class a looper or hook is substituted frequently for the circular needle-a matter which has no significance in the application of my invention, which may be successfully employed in either case.

F is a point of the usual form shown in section in Fig. 5. The point F consists of one straight horizontal part, 1, and one straight inclined part, 2. The longitudinal groove in the upper side of the points permits the needle Z to pass into the loops of the fabric without catching the thread. The circular arc in which the point of the needle Z has its path is indi cated by dotted lines 3. The inner portion of the horizontal part 1 of point F is confined in a suitable groove, 4, in bed E, the walls of which project above the needle and are hammered down upon part 1 after the point is in place, thereby firmly and securely holding part 1 in place vertically and laterally. To prevent part 1 from turning in its seat, and to still further secure the point F in bed E, a shallow inclined groove, 5, somewhat less in depth than the diameter or thickness of part 2, is formed in the bed to receive part 2, and a follower, 6, wedge-shaped in section, is drawn down by screws 7 along the vertical face 7of the channel in bed E until it presses firmly against parts 2 of points F, holding them securely in the grooves 5, and thus completing the necessary fastening of the points F in point-bed E. The defects of this the usual construction, (illustrated in Fig. 5 and above described,) which it is the object of my invention to remedy, are, first, that the needle Z, from various causes not necessary to enumerate, frequently passes between the points F instead of into the groove of the point, and necessarily strikes the wall or partition between the points, with the result of injuring the needle or the wall, or both; second, in sewing the edges of the looped or knit fabrics together, when the hook, looper, or circular needle, after having formed the loop, commences to leave the same, the loop is drawn outward and tightened by the tension of the thread of needle Z in being with drawn; but the needle Z lies so closely to the face of the hainmered-down part of the walls of grooves 4 that the thread of the loop is held and detained between the needle Z and that face, causing irregularity in the stitches. These two defects I obviate by the employment of my improved point G, the shank or rear part of which is formed in two portions, the axial lines of which are at an angle to each other, as shown in the drawings. In Fig.2

the horizontal projecting part of the point is shown elevated above the upper face of the bed, this arrangement allowing the needle to pass between the points G- without striking any part of the needle-bed, and thereby being broken or injured. Being enabled, also, by this arrangement to make the horizontal projecting part of the point much shorter, and also to dispense with the hammered-down portion of the wall of the point-bed above referred to, there is much less liability for the loop to get caught and sufficient clearance between the needle and point-bed will be obtained.

To prevent the loops 8 of the pendent fabric 9 from being pushed in over the bend 10 of point G, it is necessary that a suitable projection, 11, be provided extending outward from the point-bed beyond the fastening of the points therein sufficiently for the purpose. The operator, in placing the pieces of fabric on the points, will sometimesforce the loops 8 over the bend 10, and a sweep, 12, may be fixed near the needleZ by attaching the hanger 13 to some stationary support in such a position that the loops 8, carried by the moving points toward the needle Z, will come in contact with a suitable working face or edge, 14, of the sweep, and, moving along that face or edge, will be forced outward toward the ex- ICO tremity of the points into or near the position shown in Fig. 2. The outer and upper corner of the projection 11, which extends above the shank of the point, may be beveled or rounded off, as seen in Fig. 2, so that in case the needle Z should strike the inclined surface thus presented it would be forced upward, doing less damage than if striking a verticalface; or it may be beveled or sloped still more than is represented in Fig. 2 farther inward, to prevent the needle from striking at all.

In order that the distance between the loops 8 and the circular needle or hook or looper, if the latter is used, may not be too great, the inner portion of the horizontal partof the points G may be lowered below the outer part sufficiently to bring the inner part and its fastenings below the circular needle hook or looper, as shown in the several drawings 6, 7, 8,and 9. In order to support the outer or overhanging portion of the horizontal part of the points G, the projection 11 may be extended upward quite to the under side of the outer horizontal part of the point G, and the projection 11 may in that case be grooved between the points, as shown in Fig. 9, to give additional clearance to the point of the needle Z whenever it passes between the points G. Am

other objection to the construction shown in Fig. is that when the points become injured they cannot be renewed or replaced more than once or twice, owing to the necessity of hammering or riveting down the metal to secure the points F in the seats. To avoid this difficulty I employ for each point G two shallow grooves, and 16, Figs. 7 and 8, not in the same straight line, or one or more suitable grooves forming a curved or broken line corresponding to the form of the part y z of the point G, the said curved or straight grooves being so disposed or formed in the bed that when the points G are placed therein and the follower 6 drawn or forced down, the follower, passing downward and outward, will hold the points firmly and securely in position, as will be clearly understood by inspecting Figs. 7, 8, and 10. When ,asin Fig. S,theshallowgroove 15 is horizontal, the projection 11 may be formed on a removable plate or ring, as illustrated in that figure and also in Fig. 6, to facilitate the cutting of the grooves15; but when the grooves 15 and 16 are cut on parallel or similarly-inclined faces, as illustrated in Fig. 7, it is not necessary that the projection 11 be formed in a separate or removable plate or ring. The form of the follower 6 in Figs. 7 and S can be perfectly understood by simple inspection of the figures. Its form, of course, must correspond with the form of the points G.

The essential features of the point G may be more fully understood by referring to Fig. 10, in which 10 ac-that is to say, the part of the point G between w and x-is the projecting or overhanging horizontal part, which may be straight or slightly curved, and the part y z is the shank of the point, and is formed of two portions whose axial lines are at an angle to each other. It will be evident that the shank of the point, if curved as shown in Fig. 10, will accomplish the same result as if it were of the form shown in Figs. 6,7,and 8,although the form of shank shown in said Figs. 6, 7, and 8 is preferred.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A point for turning-off machines, the shank or rear part of which is formed in two portions whose axial lines are at an angle to each other.

2. A point for turning-off machines,having its shank or rear portion formed in two parts, the axial lines of which are at an angle to each other, in combination with a point-bed having grooves corresponding in form to the angular shank of the point, a projection extending outward beyond the bend in the point,and a follower for securing said point in proper position, substantially as described.

3. In a turning-off machine, and in combination with the points thereof, a point-bed provided with a projection extending outward from said bed and upward beneath and sup porting the projecting portions of the points, and having grooves cut in its upper face or edge between the points, substantially as described.

4. A pointbed for turning-off machines, provided with a projecting rim or portion having elevated portions or seats for the points and grooves or recesses between said elevated portions or seats, as and for the purpose described.

5. A point-bed for turning-off machines, provided with a projecting rim or portion having its upper outer edge beveled or rounded off, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 7th day of November, A. D. 1887.

XVILLTAM BEATTIE.

\Vitnesses:

DAVID B. SMITH, LEO WRIGLEY. 

